401 years ago New England colonists and Native Americans sat down together to celebrate a Harvest Festival of thanks. Both cultures had traditions of giving thanks to God for the provisions in their lives. While Thanksgiving would not become an official American holiday for more than 200 years, the inspiration of that moment of fellowship and thanksgiving has reverberated down through our collective memory. Fellowship and thanks have sadly been too often absent in our history, but each year, we have an opportunity to renew commitments to acknowledge our dependence upon the generosity of God and our obligation to share that with whatever humans God has brought close to us.
On Thanksgiving Day, all of us will sit down with family and friends to give thanks for God's blessings and provisions. As Dr. Wang reminded us last Sunday, as he shared the pictures of relief work in Ukraine, many will mark this Holiday in fear and need. Our world is always this mix of joyful gratefulness for the goodness of God and sorrowful intercession for those who have been robbed of their share of God's bounty in our sinful world.
Thanksgiving is a day for Thanks, and as we do that, let's lift up the needs of our world to the Lord and ask Him to point us to opportunities to share and bless as we move into the holiday season.
